They say you can kill with kindness. That's just the beginning.

 

Changes

First performed at Etcetera theatre, March 1998

Cast

..............................................Julia..........................................Jacqueline Howard.
.............................................Max..........................................Bernard Lawrence
...........................................The Experiment................ ............Sean Kemp
..............................................Director.......................................Maarten Laurens
.............................................Lighting......................................

The setting is a laboratory. Operating table, ladder at back.

Scene 1:

Large, (appearance of overweight) body on table, covered. Stand and tubes to body and from body to receptacle on the floor. Bowls, buckets, scales, spare white coat, large towel.

Julia:Max :

SFX Max:

killing him was the easy………sound of foetal heart, baby crying, then speeded up tape, slows to……..
Voice of Julia (On Tape): ……. Voice, as if disembodied. She is killing me. I think I asked her to. I wish I could remember why. The lights over the operating table are kind, bright enough to hide the mark of death in my eyes, obscuring from her that shadow of dark wings hovering above me, beating time in the absence of my heart, in absence of life. In the absence of life is……. (to tape recorder) ...........
Day one. Killing him was the easy part. If the rest of the procedure goes one half as well I will be satisfied. Inoperable cerebral mass, secondary tumours on the liver, spleen and kidneys. Prognosis: death within two months.............
............ ............ ......... . ..
I have ceased to be here. This is not my voice. I am no longer aware of not being….

Julia:Max:JuliaMax:Julia

: Nothing else to be done now. I might as well leave the body to decompose and go for a walk.
(Out)
Actions to approximately match record of experiment, extravagant movements to contrast with matter-of-fact speech.
(To tape recorder) .more to pay than just a pound of flesh. And yet … yet cutting nearest the breast seemed strangely appropriate, poetic justice. I am now weighing the swabs to determine total blood.loss. ............ ............ ............ ...
Unaware of my loss. I.. no longer..I…............ ...
(to tape recorder) ............ ............ ............ ...
Nothingness…. Can I see….Is that ….most brilliant light? Is that…a…. No….there is noth……..

 

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I am closing the body bag and checking the monitors. The fluid replacement and activated retrovirus are now working on a cellular level. The effect of severing the aorta is a little messy, but the blood will be easier to dispose of than solid material. He had such a wonderful mind. But he owed his body a debt. There was muchDominic Burnham.. ...